


[Podfic] Drift Compatible

by Lockedinjohnlock (Podfixx)



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Angst, Autism Spectrum, Drug Addiction, English Accent, Family Drama, Futuristic Military Sci-Fi Setting, Internalised Homophobia, John is a Very Good Doctor, M/M, Martial Arts, Pining, Podfic, Romance, Science Fiction, Soundcloud, Telepathic Porn, Telepathy, The Drift (Pacific Rim), Trust Issues, Unsympathetic Mycroft, alternate first meeting, neuroscience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-02-08 14:39:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 0
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18625297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Podfixx/pseuds/Lockedinjohnlock
Summary: A washed out war hero struggling with his past. A prodigy who wants nothing to do with his family legacy. Both are looking for something—and someone—worth fighting for in a world where human civilisation is constantly under threat.





	1. The Legacy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [J_Baillier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Baillier/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Drift Compatible](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15036611) by [J_Baillier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Baillier/pseuds/J_Baillier). 



> What can I say? This is so exciting!
> 
> Many, many thanks to JBaillier for permission to podfic this amaaaaaaaazing fic. There was such a stir about it when it came out and it really captured the imagination of the fandom. I feel so honoured to be involved on the fringes of that phenomenon and am proud to present to you the Podfic of Drift Compatible.
> 
> Music: Mechanized Thought 2 by Noah Sorata
> 
> As per the comments below, I'll add the author's notes at the end of each chapter, as they appear on the text version!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> So begins our adventure. There are words and abbreviations in this chapter which may baffle you, but rest assured all will be explained sooner rather than later. Staging the story in the Pacific Rim universe means that it will be chock full of spoilers about the two films; some details from tie-in (graphic and other) novels will also be used. Some Pacific Rim canon has been twisted, altered, and moulded into my liking, so if something differs from how it is in canon, you may assume the choice is deliberate. Those choices will be discussed in an Author's Notes subsection called "Firing the canon". These tidbits are all skippable if you want to hurry on forward to the next chapter; as already mentioned, I have worked very hard with several betas to make sure everything is understandable without any externally acquired knowledge of Rim canon whatsoever. 
> 
>  
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> Even though the name of the Pan-Pacific Defence Corps points to just one ocean, the organisation does serve all humanity in guarding ocean coastlines when the kaiju are on the move. Marshal is the highest rank in the PPDC. In canon, there is only one of them, but to expand on that, I created the regional Marshals – think something along the lines of "war general of Europe". In the context of this story, the Marshal can mostly be thought of as a stuffy bureaucrat who gives speeches and cuts ribbons and yells about budgets. Perfect for Mycroft (especially if there's cake at the ribbon-cutting). His most famous predecessor is Marshal Stacker Pentecost, featured in the first Pacific Rim film and wonderfully played by Idris Elba. Unlike Mycroft, Pentecost was a war hero.


	2. In Memoriam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> 'Jaeger' is German for hunter. These formidable war machines will be explained in detail in later chapters.
> 
> Some readers may be racking their brains trying to recall where they have heard the words 'Ranger Watson' before; I daresay it was probably in sincewhendoyoucallme-john's recent AU "The Bluest of Blue". I would have preferred not to sound repetitive, but the term 'Ranger' is very much core Pacific Rim canon. Surely there can never be enough Ranger Watson booty in this fandom.... *grin*
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> So, what are the kaiju and where did they come from? Well, these things just suddenly waded out of the ocean depths and started pummelling coastal cities. Somehow, they never show up for interviews in morning shows, so their origins and purpose are mostly unknown, and they are (possibly) extradimensional. Due to the shock and awe they inspire in humans, some think they are God's punishment on mankind, and some think they are Gods. In fact, there is even a somewhat organised religious movement that worships them (this is what John was talking about when deliberating the possibility of a drone strike). By the time this story starts, millions of lives have been lost to kaiju attacks, and cities have been reduced to rubble, but at least they have brought mankind together. A bit. Sort of. You know how we like our petty conflicts and trade wars; some fuckton-weighing scary monster isn't going to change that. At the start of the story, it's been quiet for a while; new kaijus haven't appeared for years. In the past, they've always come back even after longer lulls, so there are no guarantees of a lasting peace and quiet.
> 
> Kaiju bits possess many strange and unique properties – including some very dangerous ones – and trading them in the black market is canonically big business. Their brains in particular have turned out to be quite a risky thing to possess (the second Pacific Rim film is a very demonstrative cautionary tale about it), so I have assumed that possession of any kaiju parts would become highly regulated. Imprisonment in China isn't canon, nor is the British legislation about possession being categorised as treason.
> 
> Canonically, there are nine Shatterdomes: Panama City, Los Angeles, Sydney, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Vladivostok, Anchorage, Lima and Hong Kong (for the purposes of this story, I dropped Nagasaki off the list but kept the others). By definition, these massive PPDC military bases housing the Jaegers are all located within the Pacific Rim and their placement is based on military tactics and geography, not politics. To bring Europe in as a major player, I added an Atlantic base and other bases to cover all the major sea areas of the World, and the Azores seemed like a geographically convenient location. They are a stunningly beautiful chain of nine volcanic islands off the coast of Portugal and an autonomous region of the country. Terceira is one of the larger ones.  
> John's explanation of the PPDC structure may seem complex; I kept tripping up on it because I hadn't actually sat down and created the whole thing until pretty late into the editing process. I have now, which was a lot of fun. So, feast your eyes on the command structure of the PPDC:
> 
> (Locky's note: You'll have to go to chapter two of the text end notes to see this in full!)
> 
>  
> 
> Larger versions are available here. And yep, John is that sole holder of a "specialist ranger" denomination. Nobody quite knew where to put him after Harry died, and he doesn't know where he belongs, either.
> 
> I named Chard's Rift after Colonel John Rouse Merriott Chard, who successfully commanded a small British garrison of 139 soldiers against an assault of up to 4000 Zulu warriors.
> 
> Those familiar with the first Pacific Rim film may see some echoes of the backstory of brothers Raleigh and Yancy Becket in John and Harry's history. You're not wrong; at least John didn't quit the Corps to go help build that very useless wall.


	3. The Outsider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your lovely, warm welcome for this podfic. I'm so happy that you are as excited as I was when I read it and wanted to record it!
> 
> Have a wonderful weekend (a long weekend for us as for many of you, I believe).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> They're about to meet, then. But why does everyone seem to know who Sherlock's parents were? Stay tuned for first impressions (very soon) and family drama (later).
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> To explain the routes which John, Harry and Sherlock would have taken into the Corps, I had to devise a selection process. Everything regarding it is thus non-canon. I ended up with the concept of there being two routes in: either a distinguished military career combined with good enough aptitude test results OR aptitude results so exceptional that a person would be plucked into the Jaeger program quite young and without prior military experience. When humanity realised that the kaiju would keep coming, and new pilots were likely going to be needed in hordes, aptitude tests were administered to a big part of the under-thirties population in the nations taking part in the war effort. Later on, all schoolchildren were given the tests at the age of 14. Combining a genetic workup, a psychological profile, extensive tests on visuospatial skills and IQ, they are used to predict who is capable of Drifting and who is not. Drifting will be explained in detail later. Twins often Drift well, even if their individual aptitude scores aren't that high. John and Harry sort of took the military route but their early training was sped up due to the crisis being at its worst back than. Their aptitude scores were promising, and their twin connection was a predictor for a potential Drift match.
> 
> As illustrated in the chart I provided for chapter 2, the personnel of the Chard's Rift Jaeger Corps can be divided into four groups. 1) the brass, consisting of Base Commander Hammond (and technically also the Marshal, but he doesn't really participate in the day-to-day running of the base), 2) Rangers in active pilot duty, 3) Rangers in charge of training new Rangers and 4) the lonely Ranger (LOL) who does neither, and is employed as a retired-pilot-slash-non-MedBay-army-doctor. This is, of course, our John.
> 
> Wallis, Gao and Marsh are OCs, as are the hopefuls Sherlock was stuck on that flight with. My reason for not marching forth more Pacific Rim (or Sherlock) characters is that I find it somewhat tiresome and reductive in many crossover stories that the main purpose seems to just be to let a bunch of characters from two universes meet. This needed to first and foremost be about John and Sherlock.


	4. The Reluctant Patient

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you had a great weekend! It was a public holiday here (still to come for most of anyone else who gets a day off today) and I feel as if I frittered it away most carelessly. Lots of recording done this weekend but no editing - (all the nice bits and none of the hard work!!) and more sleep than I would normally get, so that was something. I have the most wonderful dinner awaiting me this evening - I can smell it cooking as I type!
> 
> Welcome back, anyway, to Drift Compatible.  
> I feel as though we can really start to get into the meat of the story this week, so pin back thy lug'oles and enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> Apis cerana is a real bee species; the himalaya variant is my invention. I have no idea if there is a particular bee species that favours opium poppies. Probably not. We need to look after the bees!
> 
> There's lots of yummy pharmacology in this chapter, some of it real and some tweaked and twisted by me for evil fictional purposes:  
> – Ventrin = A fictional drug invented by yours truly, combining GABA (a neurotransmitter that reduces excitability in the mammalian central nervous system), melatonin (a hormone that regulates sleep cycles) and oxytocin (a hormone one of the many functions of which is to alleviate fear and anxiety; it also has antidepressant-like effects). I devised the name based on the fact that the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO or VLPN) of the hypothalamus is one area of the brain that is particularly involved in the switch between wakefulness and sleep.  
> – desomorphine aka Krokodil = A fast-acting, strong synthetic opioid developed by the pharmaceutical company Roche. Its misusers can suffer horrid damage to their veins, skin and subcutaneous tissues due to the impurities present in street-manufactured batches. It is relatively easy to manufacture from codeine, which in Russia was available over the counter until the government cracked down on codeine availability in 2012. It has been estimated that around 100 000 people still use the drug in the country. The S-isomere is my invention; its introduction probably wouldn't solve the impurity problem, which means that Sherlock wouldn't be stupid enough to go for it.  
> – fepram = amfepramone, trade name Tenuate; a stimulant drug chemically quite close to amphetamine. I have no idea if someone actually uses this abbreviated form; it and all other short forms of previously unheard-of street drug names in this story were devised by me, including orfentanil.  
> – 7-hydro = 7-hydroxymitragynine; one of the active compounds in the plant Mitragyna speciosa, also known as Kratom.  
> – Venfer = an invented name for an intravenous iron supplement (these do exist already)  
> – bezitramide = An opioid developed in the 1960s by Janssen Pharmaceuticals. It was pulled from the market in the Netherlands after several fatal overdoses in 2004. Its trade name is Burgodin.  
> – orfentanil = Orthofluorofentanyl, a real-life derivative of fentanyl. It appeared in the illicit market in 2016 and has been sold online as a designer drug. I imagined that by the time this story happens, something like it could well have side lined heroin, fentanyl, buprenorphine and other current main substances as the biggest opioid street drug in the UK.  
> – PlasmaBalancePlus = In the future, they shall have invented a perfectly physiologically balanced super-IV-fluid, and this is its brand name.
> 
> There's some more medical slang present related to anaemia etc; if anyone wants a more detailed explanation, all you need to do is ask in the comments section, and your friendly author-anaesthetist-incorrigiblejohnlocker will be happy to bore for (whatever) Britain (is called in 2041) about all of that.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> The Jaegers are massive exoskeletal war machines operated by two pilots whose brains have been synced through a so-called neural handshake. The early versions of the Jaeger control systems were too much for one person's central nervous system to bear, leading to nosebleeds and seizures and other kinds of nasty things. The later versions of the control system require one pilot to control the left hemisphere, the other to control the right, and a sync that is achieved through the sharing of memories, emotions and thoughts. The term for operating in such a sync is Drifting. Not everyone can do this, and compatibility between two potential pilots varies immensely. Drifting requires intense trust and can create a bond between pilots as deep as between lovers or siblings.
> 
> This much is canon.
> 
> As for how it works on a more detailed (technical) level, I had to and wanted to go off and beyond Pacific Rim canon, especially since medical H&C is the bread and butter of my works... In this story, the neural interface relies on highly sophisticated implants in the pilots' spines and brainstems. There are two generations of interface systems (to explain the differences seen in the helmets et cetera between the two films), which will be explained in detail later in the story. There aren't that many Jaegers since they are expensive to build, and they all get more or less cool names a bit like major warships have always done. John and Harry's Jaeger, The Diablo Intercept, mentioned for the first time in this chapter, is a canon one. I imagined the (obviously non-canon) Jaegers at Chard's Rift to have been named by stuffy British bureaucrats (ie me trying to emulate them).


	5. Authority Issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got to work a couple of minutes late this morning, having woken a little late, raced to shower, put make-up on and iron my uniform. I huffed in, full of apologies, to find that quite some time ago, I'd booked it off as a holiday! Oh boy, did I have a red face? Well, at least it got me out of my fleapit and I managed a little shopping, Met Gala cruising (didn't Benedict and Sophie look amazeballs??), a wee nap and a big chunk of editing! Yay, go me!!
> 
>  
> 
> Oh, and, I apologise profusely, but I had a real problem with distant dogs barking throughout this chapter. I tried to reduce the noise (I DID reduce the noise!) but I fear you may still hear the bloody buggering sods. (Sorry, I love mine dearly, but it enrages me that folk don't take their animals in at night and this racket goes on at 1am around these parts! I could take a gun out there, I swear.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> Inventing future medicine is fun! I'm sure they will come up with fancy, automatic wound closing kits, haemorrhage control packs with fibrin patches and other such fancy stuff and be able to remotely and wirelessly monitor the vital functions of field operatives. We already routinely use ultrasound to locate blood vessels for cannulation and to perform nerve blocks and for doing bedside diagnostics. I'm hoping that in the next ten years, someone invents that handheld thing in space sci-fi TV series that beeps and then tells you what's wrong with the patient after you've waved it around in front of them for a bit.
> 
> Politicians seem to love nothing better than bureaucratic reshuffles and overhauls and reorganisation, hence me adding in the concept of a New National Health Service. I doubt it would be an improvement, most likely they'd have just stacked more layers of admin on top of the old one.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> Cadet, trainee, candidate and recruit are terms I have used for hopefuls arriving at a Shatterdome trying to get into the Jaeger Corps. The training scheme for Jaeger pilots is not explained in all that much detail in the films, so I got to improvise. At the end of basic training, each cadet will be told whether they've made it to the actual pilot training and thus the Jaeger Corps, or if they'll be assigned to the Ground Crew. Only those who make it past that cut will receive the necessary implants for Jaeger piloting to be possible. Those implants are bloody expensive, which means that they definitely won't install them into just any cartilage-for-brains fresh off the boat.
> 
> The older Jaeger models were powered by much less safe energy sources than the current ones, so who knows what side effects piloting them for a long time could have had for Rangers (hence the early retirement age). Osteoporosis was probably the least of such worries.
> 
> Mako Mori was one of the most famous Jaeger pilots. Her story is told in the first Pacific Rim movie. Michael Chen is an OC.


	6. A Nicer Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> Using an implanted device to manipulate brain activity isn't entirely sci-fi: it is already being used to control symptoms of (for instance) Parkinson's disease and severe OCD. It was fun trying to imagine what could be modulated in the future—perhaps it would be possible to up- or downregulate of opiate receptors in the central nervous system. Could that somehow reset at least some components of opiate addiction? Surgical means of affecting brain function to alleviate (neuro)psychiatric symptoms is understandably a very controversial, sensitive and ethically complex subject, especially since it was the subject of maybe the most misguided Nobel prize in the history of medicine (awarded to Egas Moniz and Walter Hess in 1949 for inventing the leucotomy procedure, also known as lobotomy).
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> The basic principles of Drifting as explained here (except for all stuff pertaining to implants) are canon, chasing the rabbit included. The pilots do experience physical sensations when piloting, but it's unclear how intensely the hits that the Jaeger takes are fed into the pilots' sensory systems.
> 
> What was referred to as 'the drone incident' is basically the plot of the second Pacific Rim film. Its details—beyond those explained in this chapter—have little relevance to this story. Trust me: they go pretty wildly bonkers, which is why I shoved them pretty much aside apart from some fun minor details. We'll get to those later. The solution that the PPDC had to the problems highlighted by the crisis were devised by me; after seeing the second film they seemed rather obvious.
> 
> As for the motivation and the physiology of the kaiju, the general ideas are canon but more specific details mine (such as the hydrogen thing). They are foot soldiers and harbingers rather than an independent species. As of what exactly, is still left a bit vague by the films.
> 
> Sherlock being an absolute, utter cock sometimes is naturally canon.


	7. Higher Ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's all very well having days off but god, it makes a whole load of work when you get back! At least the day flew by and tomorrow will be the same! Thank goodness I can come home to some restful editing. It helps, too, when I have such exciting things to be working on - ohhhhh, I am charged up and ready!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> London is brilliant, but sometimes it feels like a breath of fresh air to take our boys somewhere else. That's one of the alluring things about writing AUs. Views of Terceira.
> 
> The Haig Academy for Boys was invented for this story. It's named after Douglas Haig, aka 1st Earl Haig, a controversial British Field Marshal, whose strategy of attrition in WW1 (summarised mockingly by some as 'kill more Germans') lead to massive numbers of British casualties.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> The Mark of a Jaeger denominates its generation, in other words how new and fancy it is. The latest range is called Mark 8—invented by yours truly for this story—of which only a few of exist (one is British-designed, and you will meet it/him/her/whatever later). I envisioned that the problem with the Mark 8 would be that it requires an unrivalled level of Drift compatibility from its pilots to achieve the greatest possible independence from the central control of the Jaegers. The aim of this is to prevent someone attempting to hack into Jaeger systems from wreaking havoc. Some of the first Marks utilised analogue computer technology and old school energy forms such as nuclear; the modern ones are more about hybrid technology and more efficient energy distribution. (Think moving from diesel tractors to the Prius.) One of the Mark 1 Jaegers, the Russian-built Cherno Alpha, is just adorable in its Soviet aesthetic (alright, I'm done fangirling).
> 
> Article 67 of the Commonwealth Joint Defence Charter is non-canon poppycock invented by me. I bet it's just the sort of thing Drift!croft likes typing up during his lunch breaks.
> 
> Dojo is Japanese and means a space for immersive training or meditation; it's what martial arts schools are often referred to as being. Covering large parts of its floors is usually a tatami mat where throws and other moves can be comfortable practiced. In Pacific Rim canon, what the word dojo describes is actually called the Kwoon Combat Room; I preferred a more generic term. I have spent quite a bit of time at various dojos myself, having practiced martial arts for years (I used to be able to do quite an impressive mawashigeri) but nowadays I'm very out of practice. It's actually pretty surprising that I haven't used more of such stuff in my fic. And, before you ask: nope, not a black belt (of any grade—in many martial arts there are several types of black belts). We shall visit the Chard's Rift dojo very soon.
> 
> The bit about kaiju remains lying around where people live comes from canon; the first minutes of the first film include footage of a kaiju skeleton in a coastal suburb. Canonically, shanty towns built around kaiju remains are referred to as bone slums.


	8. At the Dojo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be a good girl and answer your lovely messages this evening but you won't get much change out of me in the next couple of days because IT (son #2) is visiting for Mother's Day and I don't get to see him very often these days so ALL my attention will be focused on him (poor lamb).  
> Have a lovely weekend and if you get up to mischief, be careful!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> Finally, the word Ravager gets mentioned. Keep that one in mind.
> 
> Why Taekwondo, you may ask? Well, Sherlock spent a great chunk of his youth in South Korea and Taekwondo is a Korean martial art. It emphasizes kicks, for which those long, lithe limbs would be perfect. The word gi (referring to the training outfits) is Japanese; since I have been using Japanese terms such as dojo and kaiju in the context of the PPDC it felt apt to stick to them instead of introducing Korean terms, and all the cadets would have the same Corps-issued outfits. Most of the recruits probably aren't representatives of any specific martial up but especially the military types would have had quite a lot of hand-to-hand combat training.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> In Pacific Rim canon, it is actually through hand-to-hand combat that Drift compatibility between pilots is assessed and pilot teams are created based on practice fights. For the purposes of this story, that seemed a bit flimflam, so I made the whole process a bit more structured and scientific and complicated. It should be said in the canon Corps' defence that, back in the day when they were quickly scraping the PPDC together, they didn't have the time or the infrastructure for anything but a bit of flimflam. Here are the candidate trials from the first film.
> 
> A reminder may be pertinent that since Chard's Rift as a location is non-canonical, so are its Jaegers (although one of them is technically a recommissioned canon one; more on this later). Diablo Intercept, which John & Harry used to pilot, wasn't canonically housed on Hawaii but in Lima, Peru.


	9. Stand Together, Stand Apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many, many congratulations to our wonderful Benedict on his (finally) being awarded a BAFTA for Lead Actor in Patrick Melrose. What a collective sigh of relief from the fandom!


	10. The Decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> After AnyaWen—my trusted friend, beta and fellow Coven member—read this chapter, she had one very pressing matter on her mind. "Jessica," she said; "you need to confirm to me right now that this Ranger Watson trading card exists". I laughed and told her no. Two hours later, that no had turned into a yes.
> 
> So, here's what Sherlock, age 13, hid under his pillow:
> 
> (Please see original work!)
> 
>  
> 
> Next, 7PercentSolution saw that and had further demands. More photoshoppery will follow.
> 
> When devising the story of the Holmes parents I thought a lot about the lives and deaths of a ground-breaking volcanologist couple, Maurice and Katia Kraft, who perished in an eruption of Japan's Mount Unzen when a pyroclastic flow was triggered.
> 
> Open craniotony is when the bony skull is sawed open in order to operate on what's inside. Cranium=skull, -otomy=to cut into.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> A strike group means the set of Jaegers assigned to a single Shatterdome. Echo Saber is the only canonical Jaeger mentioned in this chapter. This bit from the first film contains some nice views of Jaegers, the War Clock and the interior of the Hong Kong Shatterdome.
> 
> Some kaiju actually are pretty fast, at least when it comes to swimming.'
> 
> The moment of birth of the PPDC and Dr Jasper Schoenfeld and Dr Caitlin Lightcap as the key players are canon, as are the attacks on Sydney, San Francisco, Manila and Cabo.
> 
> Kaiju and Jaeger-themed toys and apparel are a canon thing. Examples can be found in the opening montage of the first film.
> 
> In canon, only The Pacific Ocean gets Breaches. For the purposes of this story, I have assumed that there is nothing special about that particular ocean that dictates that Breaches couldn't happen in other sea areas. Shatterdome locations have been selected based on the typical routes of the kaiju from Breaches towards habitation; the idea is to intercept them before they arrive in an area where fighting them could lead to significant collateral civilian damage. Canonically, a Breach is a sort of an interdimensional portal that opens at the bottom of the ocean to let kaiju through. I have deliberately not been explaining much about the precise nature of Breaches, the kaiju or their motivations since that discussion is a bit of a tangent to our romantic plot. If anyone wants to know more, head to the Pacific Rim Wiki, which will explain all of it to you much more eloquently than I ever could.


	11. Awake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> One thing I put a lot of thought into in collaboration with a beta was the background of John's issues with his own sexuality and his profound fears of coming out of the closet. I imagine that by 2041, outside the PPDC the world has changed for the better in these matters, but it was important for creating plotty conflict that the Defence Corps would still be a bastion of quite terrible prejudice. Add to that a fundamentalist religious upbringing, and it's no wonder John hesitates so much to even acknowledge his feelings for Sherlock. The terminology related to the church services John mentions attending sound deliberately weird because the religious movement his family belongs to is fictional and will be discussed more in a later chapter. Perhaps a part of John welcomed a life in such an environment as the PPDC because he felt it might act as a deterrent for him to act on the orientation he had not come to terms with yet. He should have remembered what Ian Malcolm says in Jurassic Park: life will find a way.
> 
> Seizures can be caused by lots of different things from whole-body metabolic disturbances to local brain pathology. During a seizure, there is abnormal electrical activity happening in the brain which can cause various more or less visible symptoms depending on how widespread that malfunction is. A local disturbance can cause limited symptoms or an absence seizure; a more widespread wave of abnormal EEG activity can cause a grand mal seizure (aka a generalised tonic-clonic seizure), which is what people usually assume a seizure looks like.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> As I mentioned in a prior note, canonically there are no implants, and there is little specific information regarding how exactly the spinal clamp works. This was a good thing since it allowed me to tweak stuff to my heart's desire. According to canon, the Pons system was designed by Dr Caitlin Lightcap, and the name explains why I chose to place the brain implant in the brainstem: pons, also known as the brain bridge, is a part of the brainstem. Functionally, placing an implant there that largely deals with the motor cortex and pain and other sensory pathways doesn't make that much sense, but it felt reasonable sticking to canon.
> 
> LOCCENT as an abbreviation comes from the words Local Control Centre. LOCCENT officers initiate, adjust and monitor the neural bridge interface so that pilots can Drift, and they also keep an eye on the pilots' vitals as well as data on the Jaeger's condition.  
> In the films, Drift compatibility is an intangible, mystical thing sensed somehow by compatible Rangers during a practice martial arts match. That was way, way too simple for my purposes.


	12. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit excited. I'm about three days away from a million hits on SoundCloud. I can remember getting really blown away when 200 people had listened to my first half dozen pods. Couldn't believe that there were that many people who might want to listen to me burbling away into a microphone in my girlcave.   
> A million though. That's something. That's quite... something.
> 
> Thank you, every one of you, for contributing to that something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firing the canon:  
> The Vancouver attack is not canon, though it's certainly close enough to the Pacific Coast and Anchorage that the kaiju might well head in its direction.


	13. Duty Calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a very special thank you to offer for this chapter! We meet LJ Marais today, who is described as having good English but a very strong French accent. I can only offer the first half of that brace of characteristics, so I put out a call to Twitterers (Tweeters, Twits?) to ask if anyone could coach me. Isafil flew to my aid and, while I clearly wasn't the best student, she gave me some excellent pointers! Please don't cringe too much, Isafil!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your generous time and help.
> 
> Have a wonderful weekend - I'll see you on Monday!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> I must urge all wanting a good laugh to have a look at the veritable meta-spinoff things coming to life in the comments section. Thanks to sartorius, the cast of characters of that behind-the-scenes mayhem (complete with some photoshopped illustrations) includes John's libido, Grawp Good-Smasher who brings in a much-needed kaiju perspective on all this endless pining, Ranger Regret, and (last but not least) the great Cthulhu himself. This is how is starts, and this is how it continues. I take no responsibility for anyone's mental health when reading such material. If this isn't reader engagement taken to a whole new level then I don't know what is. *continues scrubbing tea snorted out of her nose from the kitchen floor*
> 
> I want to thank all my readers—the commenters, the kudos-pounders, the lurkers, the tumbelerers (is that a word?) and all the other cheerleaders of our Ranger boys. You are all greatly appreciated. We're halfway through now, but all the best stuff just might still be ahead of us! We're now so close to all the Drifting that it's practically calling us like a nameless tentacled void.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> I will postpone more detailed commentary on the neural gel for a later chapter. It's canon, but featured only in the first film. Blocking, in the way it is explained here, is not really canon but Drifting does require allowing the other person into one's head.
> 
> Sarah is canon, believe it or not. She's introduced in the second Pacific Rim movie. The surname Sawyer is, of course, my addition.
> 
> The fact of there being two generations of training systems and the details regarding them all come from my head. The brainstem implants can be fired up and connected to LOCCENT control without establishing a neural handshake that would allow Drifting; this sort of a limited connection can be used in the early stages of training to help a cadet acclimatize to having his senses manipulated. The next step in the older training scheme is unilateral Drifting, which John already explained to us in the previous chapter. In a unilateral Drift, he will be safely locked in behind a sort of a cerebral firewall, while Sherlock is the one who needs to allow access to everything: his memories, his emotions, his very being. As RosiePaw put it in her brilliant comment: John is about to meet Sherlock's limbic system. A unilateral Drift is enough for training purposes—to introduce a new Ranger to how it feels for a neural handshake to be established—but it wouldn't allow controlling a Jaeger.
> 
> LJ Marais is an OC. The movies do not offer any commentary regarding birth control or medical care in the Corps so that's all me.


	14. Interface

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a wild weekend!! I did, indeed reach my million hits - thank you so, so MUCH for following, supporting and listening - it makes it so worthwhile putting all the hours of work in, knowing that you enjoy what I do!
> 
> Also, I got a new (to me) car!! I'll take delivery next weekend and I'm a bit excited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> We've finally reached the part in the story where I get to slam on the table a full flush of neuroscifi. While a lot of the vocabulary is real (a "spike-and-wave burst" is a good example), the theories here ain't, so don't got putting any of it in exam essays *grin*. Bursts of widespread spike-and-wave EEG forms which last at least two seconds are a feature of so-called absence seizures.
> 
> Links to all the most glorious Drift Compatible meta, as posted on Tumblr and here in the comments section, have now been assembled by yours truly into a single post.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> The fact of the Pons system being based on the US Army's DARPA jet fighter neural systems comes from canon. As for the details of what it feels like to use it and the way the newer and older training systems work, that's all J. Baillier. In the films, either it can be assumed that all the Rangers have already gone through something similar, or (in the case of the second film), no such training seems to be even needed to pilot a Jaeger (which I found highly implausible).
> 
> The closed helmet system with neural relay gel is a feature of the first Pacific Rim film. In the second movie, those features have been replaced by a more open headset design. I assumed the explanation for this being that technology has advanced, hence my decision to state that the gel is required only for the old simulation system, not for the current actual Jaeger interface. Long have I wondered where the gel comes from and where it drains into; it sort of reminds me of the bacta in Star Wars. The gel can be seen in action in this scene from the first film where the Becket brothers are preparing to go kick some kaiju arse.


	15. Not Like The Others

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, talk about last minute alterations! I can't, for the life of me, say the word process in an American accent without having a fist shaken in my face! And it's Doctor Tagore, not Dr Tahore. I'm a clutz but I think it's all fixed, now!  
> Anyway, John to the rescue - well, to the bedside. He's such a lovely co-drifter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> There are definitely some controversial topics skirted in this chapter; it's both fun and very, very frightening to try to guess what sorts of modulations of human brain function we might be able to do in the future. Some deaf parents greatly hesitate to allow their hearing-impaired children to receive cochlear implants, fearing that they will drift away from deaf culture—which is their parents' culture. Autism advocacy groups have resisted labelling autism as a disease or a fault to be fixed, preferring instead to raise awareness of the diversity of human brain function and the way in which society is designed only with neurotypicals in mind. "Fixing" something invariably insinuates that there is a wrong/right, healthy/unhealthy, bad/good -type dichotomy in place, and that dichotomy can be outstandingly harmful.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> This chapter is an unholy matrimony of real neuroscientific terminology, futuristic sci-fi conjecture and make-believe medicine. None of it is Pacific Rim canon. Two things made me want to write this story. One: the potential to play with such delicious neuro-nonsense and two: [spoiler redacted].


	16. Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of time in the dojo, today; John's still got it when it comes to martial arts... and to one or two other things!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> The only martial arts weapons I have any experience of are shorter staffs called bo, wooden knives and nunchaku. The most important thing that I learned when spinning the latter is how much they bloody hurt when they hit your head when you miss a hand transfer. Here is martial arts legend Bruce Lee playing ping-pong with them (because he's Bruce Lee duh).
> 
> A shinai is a bamboo sword/staff used mostly in kendo. The staffs used in the first Pacific Rim film's martial arts scenes were not named, so I have chosen this term as an approximation. This scene is heavily influenced by a dojo scene in the first film.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> Ice cream being available at a kitchen area for Rangers is canon, as defined by the second film. The term Fade to describe a virtual river of memories that is used to perform a neural handshake leading to a neural sync is not canon; I borrowed it from Dragon Age.


	17. The Dog and The Rabbit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drrrriiiiiiiiiiiffffffftiiiiiiiiinnngggg!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> I can't start writing a story until I begin seeing the visual of at least one scene in my head. The flashback scene in South Korea was probably the most important thing that popped into my mind about this fic. It effectively cemented the idea that I was going to write this.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> Mako Mori, one of the main characters of the first film, chases her own white rabbit in a wonderfully dramatic scene in the first film.


	18. Rotten Fruit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> John goes BAMF!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firing the canon:  
> No Catholic or other sects are mentioned in canon, and the sect John's parents are a part of has nothing to do with the real Roman Catholic Church. Memorial Day is also solely my headcanon.


	19. Ghost Drifting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, lovely listeners, you have been very patient - and now there's a wee bit of a pay-off for that patience.  
> Ghost Drifting - a glimpse of what's to come! (Ha!)
> 
> Got my new car this weekend and now can't drive it because there's a problem with the fuel injection or something. I've sat in it. It's very comfortable! I just haven't GONE anywhere in it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firing the canon:  
> Ghost Drifting is very much canon. It is also the reason I wanted to write this fic. *laughs*
> 
> Cue much enthusiastic yelling about telepathic porns at my betas. And don't worry, John may be huffing and puffing, but the boys are not done working together.
> 
> According to the Pacific Rim wiki, Ghost Drifting is a known anomaly after Drifting—an "unanticipated consequence" of the neural handshake. It simply means that pilots have found that their connection stays somewhat active, though muted, after they've been disconnected from the system. But, it doesn't happen between all pilot teams, and I imagined the intensity varying from what John has described as being mildly aware of Harry's presence sometimes, to what's going on here (you ain't seen nothing yet!).


	20. Only You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> I have no idea what I have done right in a previous life to earn such a wonderful group of readers as this story has found. The list of meta which I am curating on tumblr has been updated.
> 
> Isn't it nice that in 2041 sexual and gender equality has pretty much been reached in Britain? Not that they would have been the first to have an LGBTQA+ prime minister; Iceland got there first in real life with Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> I probably haven't mentioned before that the position of a Base Commander, and Chard's Rift's current one, Hammond, are not canon. In the films, while there seem to be several Shatterdomes, the whole organisation seems to be either lead by a single Marshal, or the details of a more detailed command structure are simply not explained.
> 
> John isn't the first Ranger pulled out of retirement; early into the first film, we learn that Raleigh Becket has left the PPDC to work in construction of the pointless coastal anti-kaiju wall. After that wall is breached, he is brought back into the Corps, and finds a new co-pilot despite assuming that he'd never Drift again after losing his brother in battle.


	21. No Turning Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so the car is fixed (it fixed itself, go figure), and repair works that have been in dire need on our house for over six months (a year, maybe?) will commence on Monday. It's been a good news day. Well, 2:1. I'll take that.  
> And this is a porny chapter, so win win, I reckon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> John has a new ghost instead of Harry, and this one's nicer. And alive. And there's porns.
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> Oh nevermind.


	22. Drift Compatible

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> *takes a deep breath* FINALLY.
> 
> We also finally got an explanation for the rain and the orange butterflies from their first attempt at Drifting.


	23. The Ravager

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the month comes to a close, we finally get to see what they've been working towards!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> Finally, finally, we have our boys in the Ravager! Believe it or not, but this chapter was not part of my original draft. I wanted to focus on the Johnlock and shove what I kept calling "all the silly" to the sidelines (that mostly included the Jaegers and the kaiju), but it turned out that my betas were very much craving for some hot Jaeger action after I'd made such a big damned deal about Mycroft's fancy-arse robots. And, writing such things turned out to be quite glorious. And, not so silly, after all.  
> "Shi Unmei" would roughly translate as "Death Doom".
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> Here's a scene from the first film showing the preparations needed for taking a Jaeger out for a jaunt. Note that the scene features closed helmets and the neural relay gel; in the second film those features are absent. I have gone with the assumption that Jaeger tech simply evolved in a manner that they weren't necessary anymore; hence calling the system John and Sherlock used in Sherlock's early training "the old one".  
> Here's a fun feature about the film crew talking about designing the Jaegers.


	24. Facing The Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe we're on the final straight already!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> Let's all give a big hand for BAMF!Ranger!Watson. And perhaps a boo for Big Bro. I think that, out of all my Mycrofts, this is the coldest and most frightening in how he puts his career before everything else.


	25. Union

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This near hour-long chapter is pretty much the pinnacle of the story - just a short epilogue to come tomorrow.   
> I can't believe how quickly the time has passed by; thank you so much for keeping me company while we follow our two lovelies get their act together in yet another scenario! And what a fantastic scenario it has been. Mega kudos to JBaillier for building such a believable world, whether we have seen Pacific Rim or not (I still have to see more than trailers and snippets!).  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and remember to go and give praise and kudos to JB on the original text!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> I promise that the lotion was hypoallergenic and of high quality. I'm sure the commissary sells proper lube for their future needs. And, being intelligent people, they are being STD-safe. Remember your condoms, people, if you don't have such a guarantee of your partner's status!
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> Oh, who cares. *floats on a cloud of pornsy triumphant bliss*
> 
> On second thought, I will mention that the story of Stacker Pentecost is told in the first movie. He is played by the amazing Idris Elba.


	26. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well my lovelies, here we are at the end of the line!  
> Thank you, again, for listening and commenting and generally keeping me company along the way.  
> Thanks again also to JB for permission and some serious cheerleading in the comments You rock, Mrs Woman!
> 
> Since tomorrow is my birthday, I'm doing a bit of an indulgent pod, courtesy of another Fandom Treasure, so stay tuned!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes:  
> The boys and girls of the world now have two (more or less new) Rangers to look up to. This means, of course, that new trading cards are due! After I created John's old one, and one for Sherlock, the insatiable 7PercentSolution insisted that John's card should get an update, too. I bet the old one is now an expensive collector's item. Surely there aren't that many Rangers who have returned to active service after being side-lined for nearly twenty years?
> 
> So, I give you... the Rangers of the Reichenbach Ravager (and a bonus Mycroft):
> 
>  
> 
> (You need to pop over to the original for these fantastic pics!!)
> 
>  
> 
> Firing the canon:  
> Who even cares at this point, it's done and they're awesome. Just look at my Ranger boys!
> 
> Roll credits tunes:  
> Sia: Alive  
> Parademics: Pacific Rim Epic Orchestral Cover
> 
> A note on the future of this 'verse:  
> Rangers Holmes and Watson will return. To ensure that you get to join their next adventure, you'll need to click on the author subscription buttons of not just yours truly, but also AnyaWen and 7PercentSolution. There will be more trading cards, too...


End file.
